1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to auxiliary propulsion of passenger vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The vast majority of vehicles on the road today are powered by gasoline or diesel fuel. The price of fuel has been increasing sharply. Therefore, there is a strong desire to make vehicles as fuel efficient as possible.
In the past several years, this desire has been partially met by providing hybrid vehicles to the market. Hybrid vehicles run partly on electricity stored in batteries and partly on a traditional gasoline engine. Although these hybrid vehicles enjoy greatly improved fuel mileage and are very popular, the great majority of vehicles on the road are non-hybrids. Their owners want to continue to use them for the duration of their service lives, but at the same time want to increase their fuel economy like a hybrid.
What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus that can be used with a traditional gasoline or diesel fuel vehicle to increase fuel economy by making the vehicle into a hybrid.